Mulayam refuses to submit list, smaller groups support

PTIAug 27, 2003, 03.54pm IST

LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party on Wednesday threw the ball back in Uttar Pradesh Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri's court, saying it would not submit any list of MLAs supporting it as sought by him even as the 16-member Congress and smaller groups backed the party in formation of an alternative government.

Urging the Governor to reconsider his decision, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said the opposition leaders had decided against submitting any list of MLAs supporting him as the appropriate forum to test the majority of any government was the legislative assembly and not Raj Bhavan

"The Governor should first invite us to form government and then we will prove our majority on the floor of the house," he said as the political logjam continued after the BSP-BJP coaltion collapsed and Chief Minister Mayawati submitted her resignation.

Yadav said he would not submit any list of MLAs as sought by the Governor and claimed that his party, which is the single largest group with 142 MLAs in the 403-member House, had support of sufficient number of legislators to form government,

The governor had asked Yadav, who had staked claim to form the government on Tuesday, to submit a list of his supporting MLAs by Wednesday.

The 16-member Congress, four MLAs of smaller groups and an Independent extended support to Yadav in government formation.